APWH Essays

DBQContinuity and Change

Comparative

Important Vocabulary• Analyze-determine various factors or

component parts and examine their nature and relationship

• Assess/Evaluate-judge the value or character of something, appraise, weigh the positives and negative, give an opinion regarding value, discuss advantages and disadvantages

• Compare-examine for the purpose of noting similarities and differences

• Describe-give an account of, tell about, create a word picture

Important Vocabulary• Discuss-write about, consider or examine by

argument or from various points of view, debate, present different sides

• Explain-make clear or plain, make clear the causes or reasons for, make known in detail, tell meaning

AP WH Historical Thinking Skills

• Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence

• Chronological Reasoning-cause and effect, continuity and change, periodization

• Comparison and Contextualization-across time and place

• Historical Interpretation and Synthesis

Thesis

• MUST answer the question, don’t simply restate the question- be sure to answer it

• ADDRESS all parts of the question• MUST include specific reasons, say why effects

are positive or negative, say how a society is similar and/or different than another…

• Your reasons are your paragraph topics.

Essay Structure

• Do plan your essay-chart your docs, make outlines

• Do include some background in your intro• Do include your thesis in your intro• Do use topic sentences-relate them directly to

thesis (reasons, and in a DBQ reasons=groupings)• Do use specific examples (DBQ-from documents,

others=five facts)• Do analyze as much as possible-conclude and

discuss if you have time!

DBQ• Purpose: evaluate ability to formulate and

support and answer from documentary evidence

• An exercise in crafting historical arguments from historical evidence

• Asked to analyze historical causation or make comparisons

• Read and analyze docs, contextualize them, then plan and construct an essay

DBQ Scoring

• An acceptable thesis• Address all documents and show

understanding in all but one• Uses all but one to support thesis• Analyzes POV in a minimum of two docs• Analyzes docs by grouping in three ways• Identifies and explains the need for one more

doc

Steps for the students:

1. Read the documents very carefully.

2. Answer the question: Why was THIS person producing THIS piece of information at THIS time or in this manner? Or use SOAPSTONE.

S - Who is the Speaker/Source?

H – Home - country of origin, national or ethnic identityO – Occupation or profession G – GenderW – Worldview – values as reflecting religious, philosophical, or other cultural ideals A – AgeR – Real Knowledge – that is what are the limitations of the speaker – what could they know or not knowT – Theoretical Ideals - political, economic, or other social / intellectual values S – Social Status, including class, caste, wealth and education

O - A - P - SO - What is the Occasion?A - What is the Intended Audience?P - What is the Purpose?S - What is the Subject? – NOT for POV itself, but to support POV claims or to help answer the question.

TONE – What is the tone of the document?

Consider the SWEET and SOUR approach. Is the speaker or message:S – Sad or wistful?W – Worried or panic stricken?E – Exasperated, outraged or disgustedE – Excited or guilty / ashamed?T – Tolerant, sympathetic or unsympathetic?

A – Arrogant, condescending or insensitive?N – Negative, defensive or judgmental?D – Deferential or respectful?

S – Sarcastic or humorous?O – Obsessed, fanatical or just committed?U – Uncertain or knowledgeable?R – Ruthless, cruel or antagonistic?

POV No-NosIdentifying the POV, is just the beginning. Expressing it appropriately is the next part. Watch out!•Simply repeating the attribution will not get you any points for POV; nor will claiming bias without justification.•Poor defense of your POV is not enough either, like stating: “The author is biased because he is British.”•Avoid trying to cast aspersions on the source. This kind of POV attempt, “This information is biased/wrong because the author is ignorant” rarely gets the POV point. All sources can tell you something, no matter what you think about the author.

Ideal POV StatementsThe author might write _____ /use

____tone/etc. because ______.

SOAPSTONE

Text (from Why – or rather what

the document) connects the two?

Ideal POV StatementsSource: Isocrates, Greek philosopher; description of Artaxerxes II, a Persian king

who gained control over Greek city-states in A.D. 387.

• He is a despot to whose course we sail to accuse each other. We call him the Great King, as though we were subject prisoners of war, and if we engage in war with each other, it is on him that our hopes are set, though he would destroy both sides without compunction.

• POV - Speaker: As a Greek, Isocrates would have ill-will towards his conqueror and would thus be inclined to describe him harshly with such terms as “despot” or “subject prisoners of war” and “without compunction.”

Ideal POV Statements• Source: Marx and Engel’s Communist Manifesto in

1848

• POV (Purpose): Marx and Engel are trying to inspire a revolution and therefore are trying to arouse negative feelings about the bourgeoisie and capitalism in general by describing them with such words as “pitiless,” “egotistical” and “brutal exploitation.”

• POV (Audience): Marx and Engel are directing their message to an educated audience and therefore feel free to use such advanced vocabulary as “bourgeoisie, idyllic, nexus,” which they know they will understand and they hope might sway their views.

Unusual Sources• Maps• Statistics / Charts• Photographs / Paintings /

Political Cartoons • Advertisements• Pieces of literature / Songs /

Editorials

Continuity and Change Essay

Analysis of continuities and changes over time-a historical thinking skill for this course

May address a course themeMay include some internal choiceConstruct an argument that responds directly

to the question

Scoring• Thesis• Address all parts of the question, not necessarily

evenly• Substantiates thesis with appropriate historical

evidence (five facts)• Uses relevant world historical context effectively• Analyzes the process of continuity AND change

over time-show solid chronological understanding

Change and Continuity over Time- River metaphor

Change and Continuity over Time

Change and Continuity over Time

Change and Continuity over Time

Meteor Metaphor

Samples• Analyze the social and economic

transformations that occurred in the Atlantic World as a result of new contacts among Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas from 1492- 1750.

• What is the question asking? Where? When?

Samples• Describe and explain continuities and changes in

religious beliefs and practices in ONE of the following regions from 1450 to the present. – Sub-Saharan Africa– Latin America/ Caribbean

What is the question asking for? Where? When?

SamplesAnalyze cultural, economic, and political impact of

Islam 1000-1750.West AfricaS. AsiaEurope

What is the question asking? Where? When?

Comparative Essay

• Focuses on developments from at least two regions or societies

• Relates to one of the five themes• Analysis of the reasons for the identified

similarities and differences• Theses should state one clear similarity and one

clear difference (specific!)• Paragraph according to topic, not similarities

and differences or by place

Scoring

• Thesis• Addresses all parts of the question, not

necessarily evenly• Substantiates thesis with evidence (five facts!)• Makes at least ONE relevant comparison• Analyzes at least ONE reason for the similarity

or difference

Sample

Compare the emergence of nation-states in nineteenth-century Latin America with the emergence of nation-states in ONE of the following regions in the twentieth century.• Sub-Saharan Africa• The Middle East

Sample

• Compare and contrast roles of women in two of the following from 1750-1914East AsiaLatin AmericaSub-Saharan AfricaWestern Europe

Sample

• Compare demographic and environmental effects of the Columbian Exchange in the Americas with the same in either Africa, Asia, or Europe in the time period 1450-1750.